Friday, 4 October 2013

Ry X - New Waves

When does new music stop being new music? It’s an internal debate that sometimes crops up at Breaking More Waves towers, particularly as our strap line states we’re an independent new music blog.

The question we're asking is should it be new to the author or new to the reader?

Taking the new to the author approach we could then post about Dizzee Rascal’s 2003 album Boy In Da Corner. We heard it in its entirety for the first time yesterday. 10 years after release. It’s clearly not a new release, but it is new to our ears. We wonder how many new music bloggers have little appreciation of all the great ‘old music’ ? Sure, there are gaps in even the most obsessive music fans listening history, but there’s a danger in becoming so obsessed with the new that one can miss out on some of the most wonderful pleasures from the past. Plus trying to keep up with the sheer volume of new music out there as well the Joneses can become exhausting and has led to a fair few bloggers burning out.

The new to the reader approach is complex as well. We don’t know what you’ve already heard. If we searched Bandcamp or Soundcloud and listened to posts that have been uploaded in the last few minutes, enjoyed them and posted them on the blog immediately, the chances are they would be new to 99 if not 100% of our readers. But from a personal perspective (remember we’re not paid to do this and are not free time rich) the hours we sometimes spend ear-wading through what normally turns out to be a musical sea of shit to find one great song can seem like time wasted. Instead we could have been ‘discovering’ records from the past that come recommended or were critically revered, with a much safer chance of finding pleasure and greatness.

Yet a couple of days ago we hit jackpot. The first three songs we pressed play on in our overflowing new music in box were instant joy givers. This is incredibly unusual. The first, by George Ezra we posted yesterday, the second you’ll find below.

But here's the dilemma; ‘new’ Australian artist Ry X has already cropped up on most of the on trend / buzz new music blogs back in August (when we were on holiday) with some posting even earlier than that. So if you’re the kind of reader that likes to keep an eye and ear on new music (and we assume you do, otherwise why are you here?), you’ll probably have already heard this song. In fact Berlin has already been streamed over 100,000 times, hit the top of the Hype Machine charts and was released in late August via Swedish label Dumont Dumont.

So apologies if Ry X and Berlin isn’t new to you. But if you’ve heard it before let’s remind you of its beautiful fragility. If this is your first time, sit back and enjoy 2 minutes and 50 seconds of its soothing perfection. Yes the comparisons to Bon Iver and Matt Corby are inevitable, but its stark loveliness is too good to be ignored, even if we’re a little late to the party.Oh, and if anyone could let us know exactly what is new music and what isn't we'd very much appreciate it. Thank you.